Hornets 18 - 10 Oldham

In a fiery derby at Spotland Hornets ended Oldham's unbeaten start to the Co-operative Championship 1 season with an 18-10 victory.

Oldham led 10-8 at the half-time despite losing influential skipper and stand-off Neil Roden with a severe dead leg after five minutes.

Hornets, however, totally dominated a rough-house second half to finish worthy winners.

They already led 16-10 in the 60th minute when Oldham's young forward Alex Thompson was sin-binned after a brawl in which players in both sides traded punches.

Roughyeds got a penalty for a high tackle on Thompson which sparked the free-for-all, but the Oldham bench, and Thompson, were mystified when refereee Gary Hewer produced the yellow card after long talks with his touch judges.

The game threatened to explode again on the final hooter. Rochdale's Adam Bowman was carrying the ball to the touchline to effectively end play when Oldham hooker John Clough pushed him into an advertising board.

Referee Hewer put the incident on report and this was followed by plenty of pushing and jostling as both sets of players left the field in an acrimonious finale.

Tries for Wayne English, Daniel Davies, Chris Baines and Steve McDermott ensured Hornets reduced Oldham's advantage at the top of the table to just one point.

Lucas Onyango and Alex Thompson went over for the Roughyeds.